CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 INTRODUCTION
In order to place the present research on a proper perspective, a review of related
literature is being presented. Reviewing the related literature before and after selecting the
problem is very important for planning and carrying out the study, establishing the needs of
the study, and limiting the scope of the study.
According to Cooper (1988) “a literature review uses its database reports of primary
or original scholarship, and does not report new primary scholarship itself. The primary
reports used in the literature may be verbal, but in the vast majority of cases, the reports are
written documents. The types of scholarship may be empirical, theoretical, or
methodological in nature. Second a literature review seeks to describe, summarise, evaluate,
clarify and/or integrate the content of primary reports.”
A good literature review is characterised by: a logical flow of ideas; current and
relevant references with consistent, appropriate referencing style; proper use of
terminology; and an unbiased and comprehensive view on the topic.

2.2.1 STUDIES RELATED TO PROFESSIONALISM OF TEACHERS

Ingvarson, L., Meiers, M. and Beavis, A. (2005) examined the effects of structural
and process features of professional development programme on teachers knowledge,
practice and efficacy. The survey study designed to enhance teacher quality was based on
Australian government quality teacher programme which had a data set of 3250 teachers
who had participated in eighty individual professional development activities. Four aspects
of impact were selected: impact on teachers knowledge, impact on teachers practice; impact
on students learning outcomes, and impact on teachers efficacy. To investigate the factors
affecting impact, a theoretical model was developed based on the recent research into the
characteristics of effective professional development and tested using block wise regression
analysis. Consistent significant direct effects were found. The finding from this cross-
programme analysis was that impact on efficacy was strongly related to the perceived
impact of activities on teachers practice and students learning outcomes.

Hošpesová and Tichá (2005) studied teachers’ competence as one of the

determining factors of the quality of teaching mathematics. According to them, the term
“teachers’ competence” denotes a set of professional skills and dispositions that the teacher

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should possess in order to carry out his/her job effectively. Further teachers’ practice is
characterized by great complexity, therefore, a teacher must have an arsenal of competence
in order to react to the situations that arise in the classroom and reflect on them. In view of
the complexity of the teachers’ task, it is compulsory to see teachers’ competence as a
structure that consists of subject-didactic and pedagogical competence. The question in this
study is, would teachers’ competence play a dominant role in teaching mathematics and the
methodology is based on the comparison of the approaches of two elementary mathematics
teachers to the elaboration and realization of the instruction experiment dealing with the
creation of preconceptions of fractions in mathematics. The teaching experiments have
confirmed that subject-didactic competence, or in Shulman’s terminology “content
knowledge”, is indispensable for a good teaching of mathematics.

The author Evans, L. (2008) studied professionalism, professionality and the

development of education professionals. Professionalism is best understood in policy
context. Critical analyses of professionalism do not stress the qualities inherent in an
occupation but it explores the value of the service offered by the members of that
occupation to those in power. In the United Kingdom education professions across all
sectors have been subject to increased control from outside the professions themselves –
most notably from the government. This, indeed, was the catalyst for the evolution of the
teaching profession.

A common feature of many conceptions of new professionalism in an education

context is a focus on practitioner control and proactivity. Hargreaves and Goodson (1996)
have put-forward that principles of teacher professionalism incorporate a focus on teachers’
taking greater responsibility for defining the nature and content of their work. The
interpretation of professionalism is said as ‘profession’ refers to an occupation that controls
its own work, organized by a special set of institutions sustained in part by a particular
ideology of expertise and service. The word ‘professionalism’ refers to that ideology and
special set of institutions. But these interpretations are of the ‘old school’.

Therefore the authors have concluded that an ideally constituted professional

development incorporates both attitudinal and functional development, since either without
the other is unsatisfactory.

This paper about Professional competencies of Mathematics Teachers by Marbán,

J.M. (2009) deals with establishing the state of the art questions such as "What should it

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mean being a competent mathematics teacher?" and "How to measure quality in teaching
maths?" with special attention to the Danish and the Spanish cases through teacher training
programme. Marban has used PISA an internationally standardised assessment tool to sort
the learning outcomes of their 15 year old students, in terms of knowledge and skills. Since,
most governments have suddenly felt aware of the need to become a mathematically
competent society this study was initiated. As a consequence new trends and reflections
about developing mathematical competencies among students have been put forward and
sometimes forced to go deep into what should be understood by mastering mathematics as
well as to design policies to ensure the achievement of higher levels of this feature. In
particular, along the last four decades mathematics education as a research field has been
widely shown that there is a significant influence of mathematics teachers’ behaviours and
competencies on students’ learning achievements and concluded that schools have to be
concerned with the even more complex task of developing professional mathematics
teaching competencies.

2.2.2 STUDIES RELATED TO PERSONALITY

Byrd, J.W., Coble, C.R. and Adler, C.G. (1982) investigated personality
characteristics of science teachers. Their study demonstrated the preparation of new
teachers in the early identification of those pupils who were most apt to become successful
teachers. This task comes with advent of competency – based certification programmes in
the U.S. The query of measuring competency for experienced teachers is a much complex
one. However, the challenge of creating competency for certification purpose with respect
to new teachers is indeed thought provoking. The study population included science
teachers and students from 25 high schools. In this study effective teachers were those
perceived to be successful by their peers/students. The objective of the study was to identify
unique characteristics associated distinctively with those teachers who are judged
successful. The study did not establish the cause and effect relationship between teacher
behaviour and perceived success. However, it showed clusters of behaviours associated
with teachers judged to be successful.

John et al., (1991) classified teacher personality traits as agreeableness,

conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion, and openness to experience. These
traits were adopted by Barrick and Mount (1991) and gauged their relationship with job
performance. The findings indicated that conscientiousness was found to be positively
related to job performance.

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 Investigations made by Radmacher, S. A. and Martin, D. J. (2001) examined
seven personality traits which included extraversion, approachability, outgoing, establishing
a caring, loving and warm atmosphere with students, having a sound knowledge of subject
matter, giving an individual attention, and enthusiastic personality with a sense of humor
and eight items reflecting teaching effectiveness. Their findings suggested that effective
teachers display extraverted traits, approachability, enthusiasm, and outgoing with a sense
of humor.

Henry and Rohwer (2004) in their studies on teacher personality features have
established profound personality traits among highly effective teachers.

Similarly, Danili and Reid (2006) and Ozel (2007) in their studies on the
relationship between teachers’ personality traits and students’ academic performance found
that teachers’ personality traits do affect students’ test performance.

Rushton et al., (2007)in their article “Teacher's Myers-Briggs Personality Profiles:

Identifying Effective Teacher Personality Traits” describes certain important issues such as,
What is ‘‘a quality teacher?’’, “What is the role of personality in determining an effective
teacher and are certain teacher personality types more effective at teaching than others?”

All countries around the globe are facing the need for qualified, educated and
competent educators. Most of the Asian and European countries, however, regard their
teachers with a higher level of respect than many of their American counter-parts.
Generally, teachers of these countries receive longer, more extensive training in both
pedagogy as well as in content, receive better pay, and are provided more time to focus on
the needs of their students.

The article by Decker and Rimm-Kaufman, (2008), puts forward three questions
about pre-service teachers. Firstly, what are the prevalent beliefs about teaching among pre-
service teachers? Secondly, what are the personality characteristics of pre-service teachers?
Thirdly, in what ways do personality traits and other demographic attributes predict beliefs
about teaching?

This study investigated the relationship between pre-service teachers’ beliefs and
personal attributes with the emergence of three findings. First, pre-service teachers
presented belief profiles that matched ‘best practices’ (Brophy, 1999). Secondly, pre-
service teachers were found to be much higher than a sample of their college-aged

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counterparts with respect to all five personality factors: neuroticism, extraversion, openness
to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Finally, personal attributes and
personalities predicted facets of pre-service teachers’ beliefs.

The recruited sample comprised of 323 females and 74 males, 332 of whom were
Caucasian with an average age of 21.20 (SD = 2.20). The majority (79%; n = 312) had no
formal teaching experience prior to school. Most important for teacher education
programmes were the findings related to beliefs concerning implicit structure, openness,
and conscientiousness.

Pre-service teachers who were found to be more open and/or less conscientious
preferred implicit approaches to manage their classrooms. In other words, pre-service
teachers were more concerned with students autonomy and less with maintaining classroom
control.

The pre-service teachers expressed a very proactive approach to discipline,

emphasized practices directed toward students’ meta cognitive growth, reflected concern for
the social experience of children, and emphasized children’s active involvement in their
own learning. Pre-service teachers were higher in extraversion than a normative sample. As
such, they described themselves as more warm and excitement seeking. Compared to a
normative sample of their peers, pre-service teachers scored higher on openness, they
described themselves as more open to novel actions and are equipped with more open ideas
than their counterparts. Pre-service teachers were more agreeable than the normative
samples who were more altruistic and less trusting. Finally, the pre-service teachers scored
higher than the normative samples on conscientiousness and described themselves as more
achievement striving and self-disciplined. Effect sizes across personality scales were all
large.

Ayan and Kocacik (2010) investigated the relationship between the level of job
satisfaction of high school teachers and types of personality and to evaluate the differences
in the levels of job satisfaction in accordance with the personality features. The study
subjects included were 482 teachers working in state schools in the central sub province of
Sivas. Data of the study were obtained from the questionnaire that determined the socio-
demographic characteristics of the teachers, occupational satisfaction scale that determined
their job satisfaction and the personality scale that determined their personality.

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 According to their findings, 32% of the teachers who responded to the questionnaire
were women and 68% were men. The study confirmed that more than half (62%) of the
teachers were extrovert personalities while 32% of the teachers were introvert personalities
within the sample. While comparing the different of points that teachers obtained in the job
satisfaction scale to that of the points obtained to evaluate their personality characteristics, it
was found that their job satisfaction showed significant differences in terms of
characteristics of liking competence, being ambitious in the social area and occupation,
getting angry easily and hiding their feelings. The study concluded saying, though
personality characteristics of teachers are the determining factors for and efficient training
and educational process, they were not sufficient to explain the teachers’ satisfaction.

Kneipp, et al., (2010) examined the effects of teacher personality characteristics on

students’ perception via the Big Five Personality Test which measures the five personality
characteristics of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and
Neuroticism. The stepwise linear regression equation was employed to measure how each
personality factor predicts instructional quality, with each personality variable (Openness,
Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) as the predictor
variables and instructional quality as the criterion variable. The results showed that
agreeableness was the only significant predictor.

According to Richardson and Arker (2010), Personality of teachers had an impact

on their selection of different instructional strategies, the choice of materials and their
classroom management system. Teacher personality styles are directly proportional to the
learning styles of students. In order to divulge teacher personalities in classroom a number
of personality assessment tools were put forward to assist in teaching methods.

The investigation by Abd Hamid, Syed Hassan and Ismail (2012) quantified the
teacher’s cognitive ability and the teacher’s personality or interpersonal skills. The
participants were experienced teachers working in Malaysia. The questionnaire had 120
questions which were administered to the school teachers from different types of schools.
1366 completed questionnaires were analyzed

Using structural equation model (SEM), the study evaluated teacher’s cognitive
abilities and their personalities to predict teacher’s performances. The results revealed a
model fit with both cognitive abilities and personality predicting classroom management.
Good personality alone, however, is insufficient in terms of enhancing the teachers’

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commitment and responsibilities towards their students unless it is complemented by the
teachers’ cognitive competency.

Attempts were made to study Teacher personality by Arif et al., (2012) using the
big five inventory (BFI) originally developed by Oliver P. John, (1999) with little
modification. This inventory comprised of twenty five statements about Big five personality
traits (five statements about each personality trait), was distributed among the selected
prospective teachers at teacher education institute in Punjab. Big five personality traits
include Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Openness.
Convenient sampling technique was employed to select 100 bachelors’ level prospective
teachers from four teacher education institutes of Punjab. Twenty five prospective teachers
from each university were selected which included 60 female and 40 male teachers.

The study findings displayed that the ratio of four personality traits (Extraversion,
Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism) were nearly the same, however the
ratio of Openness personality trait was greater which meant that the openness personality
trait of prospective teachers was more dominant when compared to the remaining four big
personality traits. It was also established that there was a significant difference between
genders, male and female prospective teachers on their big five personality traits. Female
prospective teachers got greater score on their big five personality trait instrument when
compared to the male prospective teachers. Findings of this study indicated the quality of
teacher education programmes in terms of their capability to develop teachers’ personality.

Chi, et al., (2013) explored the relationship between job involvement, personality
traits, organizational commitment and teaching efficacy among high school teachers. In
their study they examined the mediating effect of job involvement on organizational
commitment and teaching efficacy among teachers from a junior high school in Taiwan.
They also investigated the moderating effects of personality traits on job involvement and
teaching efficacy. A questionnaire tool comprising of 290 questions was used as the main
instrument to collect data from 349 junior high school teachers.

According to their findings, (1) Job involvement had a significant and positive
influence on teaching efficacy (2) personality traits had a significant and positive influence
on teaching efficacy (3) organizational commitment had a significant and positive influence
on job involvement (4) organizational commitment had a significant and positive influence
on teaching efficacy (5) job involvement had a meditating effect between organizational

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commitment and teaching efficacy (6) personality traits had no moderation effect between
job involvement and teaching efficacy.

2.2.3 STUDIES RELATED TO TEACHING COMPETENCY

An analysis on Teaching Competence of Science Teachers at higher secondary level

was done by Lily Mary Pushpam and Sundararajan (2004). The main objective of the
study was to study the level of teaching Competency of Science teachers at higher
secondary level and to find the influence of different background variables on teaching
competency and to find out the relationship of teaching competency of science teachers
with their job satisfaction, attitude towards teaching profession and intelligence of the
students. Tools used were Indoor Teaching Assessment Scale, Job Satisfaction Scale,
Attitude towards Teaching profession Scale, Extroversion and introversion Inventory,
Group Intelligence Test, Major Findings were: the teachers of aided and matriculation
schools showed better teaching competency than the teachers working in government and
corporation schools, teaching competency of experienced teachers were greater than the less
experienced teachers, PG teachers exhibited better competency than the graduate teachers,
permanent teachers registered better competency than the temporary teachers and there was
positive attitude of teachers towards teaching profession.

Achwarin, N. A. (2009) conducted a study on teacher competence at schools in the

three southern provinces of Thailand. The research study aimed to determine the teacher
competence level and investigated the relationship between teacher qualification, teaching
experience, and school size and teacher competence of teachers at schools in the three
southern border provinces of Thailand. The method of survey research was used through
questionnaire.750 teachers were selected by simple random sampling methods from nine
educational regions, 18 secondary schools of Thailand. The instrument used for collecting
data was a questionnaire. The results revealed that there was a positive, significant
relationship between teacher qualification and teaching experience, teacher competence
areas in language and technology for teachers, curriculum development, and educational
research
Viswanathappa (2005) conducted a study on “Attitude of teachers teaching and
teaching competence”. The aim of the study was to find out the influence of attitude
towards teaching and admission test rank on teaching Competence of student teachers at
secondary level. Tools used were attitude scale towards teaching profession and teaching

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competence scale. Sample consisted of 200 student teachers. It was found that the attitude
of student teachers towards teaching as a predictor variable predicted their teaching
competence, admission test rank, age, father’s occupation and father’s educational
qualification did not predict their teaching competence.
Jeba (2005) made an investigation on “Teaching competency and mental health of
student teachers in a District Institute of Education and Training”. The objectives were to
find out the gender and group differences in teaching competency and mental health status
of student teachers in DIET and to find out the relationship between teaching competency
and mental health status of student teachers in DIET. 300 student teachers in DIET were
taken as samples. Tools used were Mental Health Status Scale and Teaching Competency
Assessment Scale. Statistical procedure adopted was ‘t’ test. Major findings were: there was
no difference in mental health and teaching competency of men and women, teaching of
arts and science students were same and mental health got positive correlation with teaching
competency.
Khojastehmehr and Takrimi (2009) examined the characteristics of effective
teachers from the perspectives of the English teachers. A 50-item researcher-constructed
questionnaire was administered and the data were analyzed via Principal Component
Analysis. The analysis yielded four constructs namely instructional strategies,
communication skills, personal characteristics and knowledge. The factor loadings for
personality attributes prioritized by the respondents were flexibility, supportiveness, kind
and friendly, lovely character, warm and cheerful, just to all students, able to communicate
to uninterested students, and tolerate the usage of mother-tongue when facilitating students’
participation.

An analysis was done by Sorrel Penn-Edwards (2010) with pre-service education

students from Queensland University on the levels of competency in literacy’s required for
teaching school children. To determine the skill levels, which were thought to be essential
for effective teaching, eight aspects were chosen. Spelling and grammar competency rated
the highest, ICT / computing and visual aspects the lowest for teachers. Students rated their
own spelling competency at the highest level and knowledge of genre the lowest. This study
revealed that the student teachers should be equipped with explicit literacy skills that
included grammar and spelling as well they needed to learn how the language works. The
teachers made comments on ways to improve their competency skills while undergoing
teacher training which was phenomenographically analysed allowing learning new

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academic and professional literacy practices, as well as extending and enriching their
everyday literacy.

The qualification of a teacher was thought as essential for the teaching professionals
to be effective in pedagogical and didactic work. Laikopoulou, M. (2011) conducted a
study on the professional competence of teachers based on qualities, attitudes, skills and
knowledge which contribute to a teacher’s effectiveness. The result of the study was based
on the national survey carried out in Greece in which secondary education teachers of all
subjects participated. The qualifications considered to be essential for teachers in order to
successfully perform their pedagogical and didactic duties were recorded. It was found that
the effectiveness of teachers did not merely depend on acquisition of knowledge and skills,
but that it also depended on their personality.

To study the Teacher Efficacy in relation to Teaching Competency, Himabindu, G.

(2012) had conducted the study on a sample of 129 Junior College Lecturers in the District
of Vizianagaram. Teacher Efficacy tool was designed and standardized by Dr.S.R.Peri
(1983) for the purpose of his research in which four dimensions is very important. They are
– (1) Personal, (2) Professional, (3) Intellectual and (4) Social aspects. The result of the
study disclosed that the Teacher Efficacy aspect had an influence with respect to variables
in sex, locality, qualification, age and type of Management, whereas the Teaching
Competency aspect had an influence with respect to variables in locality, experience,
marital status and type of institution. From these findings the authors have concluded that
the Teacher Efficacy and Teaching Competency aspects are independent and
interdependent. Hence there was the significance of relationship between Teacher Efficacy
and Teaching Competency among the sample of Junior College Lecturers.

Anbuthasan, A. and Balakrishnan, V. (2013) in their study established their

relationship between the teaching competency of teachers and gender, age and locality.
Normative survey method was used and data were collected from 300 teachers in
Kanchipuram District of Tamilnadu state. Teaching Competency Rating Scale constructed
and validated by Amaladoss (2009) was used for collecting the data. The findings of the
study were teachers had higher level of teaching competency and teachers from rural
background were far better than the urban. Also, it was found that women teachers had
higher level of teaching competency than men. But with regard to age of the teachers there
was no significant difference in their teaching competency.

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 The study by Mahalakshmi and Minnelkodi (2014) revealed the relationship
between teaching competency and personality Traits among English language teachers. The
scale used was a self-constructed tool, Teachers Teaching Competency Scale for English
Language Teachers (TCSELT) and Dimensional Personality Inventory (DPI) standardized
by Mahesh Bhargava (2006) was used to collect the data from 540 English language
teachers.

Their findings showed, the teaching competency of most of the English language
teachers were average and no significant difference could be made between male and
female English language teachers in their teaching competency. However, there was a
significant difference between male and female English language teachers in their
personality traits. The study concluded saying that there was a positive as well a significant
correlation between teaching competency and activity-passivity trait among English
language teachers. Also a positive and significant correlation could be made out between
teaching competency and Enthusiastic-Non Enthusiastic trait of English language teachers.

2.2.4 STUDIES RELATED TO TEACHER SELF-EFFICACY

Chambers, et al., (2001) studied Personality Types and Teaching Efficacy as

Predictors of Classroom Control Orientation in the Beginning Teachers. The study claimed
that the personality characteristics of the teacher were the most significant variable in
classroom success. The study had two aspects. First, the personality type of beginning
teachers was explored to determine the patterns in personality type. Second, as classroom
management issues which are central to the professional lives of teachers, the predictive
relationship between personality types and teachers' beliefs concerning classroom
management was studied. The study population included, 120 teachers who had attained a
bachelor’s degree and pursuing teacher certification through an emergency permit teacher
education programme at University in Texas.

Teachers report that classroom management is the foremost problem in education.

An individual teacher's personality traits can affect their beliefs regarding discipline and
classroom management. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), was used as a measure of
personality type and the study characterized the personality types of emergency permit
teachers participating in a university certification programme and examining the
relationship between personality and self-efficacy with classroom management beliefs. The
personality types of the teachers were dispersed across all 16 MBTI classifications.

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However, the teachers tended toward Extraversion, Sensing, and Thinking in the scale
scores. These findings reflect those of Meisgeier and Richardson's, (1996) study of
alternative certification teachers going through an educational service center programme.
They found that teachers with certain personality traits were more capable of shifting to
accommodate each of their students' various needs and that this ability may be the most
important factor in determining the success or failure of students in the classroom.

Additionally, the teachers underwent a self assessment using Osgoods Personality

Characteristics Scale and the Teacher Efficacy Inventory by Gibson and Dembo, (1984). In
the SEM analysis, the two models did not change but indicated that both models have a
rather good fit. It was found that the teachers practicing learner-centered approaches used
their self-efficacy in order to be effective in teaching, but it was also found that being
effective did not result in high teaching performance ratings. The use of learner-centered
practices was seen as effective but did not warrant having high ratings based on student
assessment.

According to Magno and Sembrano, (2007) two models were evaluated on the
interaction of teacher variables using Structural Equations Modeling (SEM). The first
model, tested the effect of teachers personality characteristics and teaching efficacy on
teacher performance and effective teaching. The second model, tested the effects of learner-
centered practices on teachers performance, effective teaching, and teaching efficacy. The
population included 296 teachers from a community college who were assessed by their
students on their teaching performance using the Student Instructional Report (SIR), the
Effective Teaching Inventory (ETI), and the Learner-centered Practices Questionnaire that
was devised by the researchers.

Chan, D. W. (2008) reported a scale for teacher self‐efficacy that aims to

accommodate the complexity of teacher functioning in secondary schools in times of
education reforms in Hong Kong. Six domains of teacher self‐efficacy: teaching highly able
learners, classroom management, guidance and counselling, student engagement, teaching
to accommodate diversity and teaching for enriched learning could be assessed with the
developed scale. A total scale along with six subscales were evaluated on the responses
from 159 Hong Kong Chinese prospective in‐service teachers for internal consistency and
construct validity, and for convergent and discriminate validation with external measures.

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 Sridhar and Badhiei (2008) compared teachers in India and Iran regarding teacher
efficacy beliefs. Teacher efficacy is found to be one of the important variables consistently
related to positive teaching behaviour and student outcomes according to Gibson and
Dembo, 1984. This cross-country study was conducted to determine the differences in
teacher efficacy level between Indian and Iranian higher primary school teachers.
Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between teacher efficacy in both
dimensions and two demographic variables which proved to be the significant predictors of
teacher efficacy, that is, gender and years of teaching experience. Teachers’ sense of
efficacy was measured through the Woolfolk and Hoy-1990, standard Teacher- Efficacy
Scale both in English and Persian languages.

ANOVA results of the data indicated that there were no significant differences
between personal teaching efficacy scores of higher primary schoolteachers in both
countries. It would mean that teachers in Iran and India had almost equal measures in their
own ability to impact students learning outcomes. The results also revealed that general
teaching efficacy measures of the teachers from the two countries did not differ
significantly.

The study by Ghanizadeh, A. and Moafian, F. (2009) tried to find the relationship
between EFL teacher self-efficacy and their pedagogical success in Language Institutes and
the teachers' age, their years of teaching experience. The sample consisted of 89 EFL
teachers from the different Language Institutes in Mashhad, a city in the North East Iran.
The EFL teachers were asked to fill “Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale” while the
“Characteristics of Successful EFL Teachers Questionnaire” to evaluate the teachers by
their students N=779. It was found that there was a significant relationship between
teachers' success and their self-efficacy. Also, significant correlations were found between
teacher self-efficacy, their teaching experience, and age. It was concluded that the older
teachers had higher sense of efficacy beliefs.

Authors Klassen and Chiu (2010) examined the relationships among teachers’
years of experience, teachers’ characteristics such as gender and teaching level, three
domains of self-efficacy such as instructional strategies, classroom management and student
engagement, two types of job stress (workload and classroom stress), and job satisfaction.
The sample size was 1430 practicing teachers from Canada of which 69% were females and

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31% were males. Teachers were asked to complete a brief questionnaire titled “What
Motivates Teachers?”

From the findings the teachers’ years of experience displayed a non-linear

relationship with all three self efficacy levels, increasing from early career to mid-career
and then decline afterwards. Female teachers had higher workload stress, greater classroom
stress from student behaviours, and lower classroom management self-efficacy. Teachers
with greater workload stress had greater classroom management self-efficacy, whereas
teachers with greater classroom stress had lower self-efficacy and lower job satisfaction.

Teachers’ gender was linked to sources of stress where female teachers had 13%
more workload stress and 8% more classroom stress than male counterparts. Those teaching
elementary grades and kindergarten children had higher levels of self-efficacy for classroom
management and student engagement. Finally, teachers with greater classroom management
self-efficacy or greater instructional strategies self-efficacy had greater job satisfaction.

Self-efficacy and its effect on human performance has fascinated a lot of

investigators like Clayson, D. and Sheffet, M. 2006; Nauta, M. 2004; Muijs and
Rejnolds, 2001; Bandura, 1997; Podell and Soodak, 1993 to explore. Attempts were
made by Mojavezi, A. and Tamiz, M. P. (2012) to investigate the influence of teacher self-
efficacy (TSE) on the students’ motivation and achievement. Data were collected randomly
from eighty senior high school teachers in four different cities in Iran, and one hundred and
fifty senior high school students, based on their teachers’ level of self-efficacy. Tools
employed were Teacher Self-Efficacy and Students’ Motivation questionnaires. Data were
analyzed through Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient and ANOVA. The results
of the study revealed that teacher self-efficacy had a positive influence on the students’
motivation and achievement. The results of the study support the findings of the previous
researches suggesting a significant correlation between teacher self- efficacy and increased
students’ achievement, by influencing teachers’ instructional practices, enthusiasm,
commitment, and teaching behavior (Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2001;Tournaki and
Podell, 2005; Wolters and Daugherty, 2007). The results were also in line with Bandura’s
observation (1994) that teachers who had a strong sense of efficacy about their capabilities
could motivate their students and improve their cognitive development.

The study by Alkan, F. and Erdem, E. (2012) was to determine chemistry special
field competency and teacher self efficacy beliefs among chemistry teacher candidates and

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to examine the relationship between chemistry special field competency and teacher self
efficacy beliefs. The study group was composed of teacher candidates of chemistry.
Chemistry Special Field Competency Scale developed by Güneş, Kavak and Yamak
(2011) was used in order to determine chemistry special field competency of teacher
candidates. The data of self efficacy of teacher candidates were collected by “Teachers’
Sense of Efficacy Scale” developed by Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (2001) which was
validated along with reliability. The findings of the study were that there was a positive and
medium relationship between chemistry special field competency and teacher self efficacy
beliefs of chemistry teacher candidates. Hence the authors concluded that chemistry special
field competency of teacher candidates increased, teacher self efficacy beliefs also
increased. This supported the result from researches on teacher self efficacy beliefs and
special field competency.

Dhatt, H. K. (2013) conducted a study to find the relationship between student-

teacher self-efficacy and general self efficacy in relation to teaching experience, marital
status and educational qualification. The sample consisted of 75 B.Ed. students of Amity
Institute of Education, Uttar Pradesh. Schwarzer and Jerusalem's General perceived Self-
efficacy Scale (1995) was used. The findings of the study showed a significant positive
correlation between general self-efficacy and student teacher self-efficacy. Also there was
no significant difference between self-efficacy of married student-teachers and unmarried
student-teachers and student-teachers with different teaching experience.

This study by Daal, Donche and De Maeyer (2014), examined the influence of
personality traits, goal orientation and self-efficacy on high school teachers participation in
workplace learning activities, such as experimentation, informal interaction with colleagues,
self-regulation and avoidance behaviour. The study population, 95 teachers from six high
schools in Belgium participated, and completed a questionnaire consisting of different
instruments to map their personality (NEOFFI), goal orientation (adaptation of
Achievement Goal Questionnaire), self-efficacy (Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale) and
participation in learning activities (adaptations from different scales). Multivariate
regression analyses on the data, pointed out that conscientiousness, extraversion and
openness had a beneficial effect on teachers’ participation in workplace learning activities.
On the other hand, learning orientation and self-efficacy were found to be better predictors
for participation in experimentation, informal interaction and self-regulation. Their analysis
using structural equation modelling revealed an indirect relationship between extraversion

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and self regulation, mediated by self-efficacy. Learning orientation mediated the impact of
conscientiousness on informal interaction.

Teacher self-efficacy is of critical significance for both female and male teachers,
and it can affect their job life. The study by Nejati, et al., (2014) investigated the
relationship between gender and subscales of self-efficacy of Iranian EFL teachers.
Therefore, difference between male and female teachers in terms of subscales of self-
efficacy (student engagement, instruction strategies, and classroom management) was
explored. The study aimed at investigating the relationship between gender and subscales of
self-efficacy of Iranian EFL teachers. So, 34 EFL teachers who were teaching in private
English language institutes in Karaj were asked to complete Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy
Scale (TSES) questionnaire. After analyzing the data, it was revealed that males and
females did not differ as far as classroom management was considered. However, they
differed in terms of student engagement and instructional strategies; male teachers were
better at student engagement, while female teachers were better at instructional strategies.
Hence male and female teachers themselves need to focus on developing the self-efficacy
subscales in which they were weak. Hence, male teachers should concentrate on enhancing
their instructional strategies, and female teachers should try to develop their efficacy in
student engagement.

2.2.5 STUDIES RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL ADJUSTMENT

Singh, B. (2002) investigated Senior Secondary Schools of Jodhpur Division in

terms of Organisational Health and Teachers’ Attitude towards Teaching Profession and
Adjustment. The objectives of the research were to study the adjustment of senior secondary
school teachers of Jodhpur division and to compare the adjustment of male and female
senior secondary school teachers of Jodhpur division and to establish the correlations
among different aspects of organizational health and adjustment of teachers. Survey method
was used to collect the data. The sample comprised of 300 teachers selected randomly. The
tools used for data collection were organizational health by D.K. Sharma, Teachers attitude
index by S.P. Ahaluwalia and Teachers’ Adjustment index by S.K. Mangal. The obtained
data were analyzed with the help of mean, SD, t-test and correlation technique. The findings
were there was a high adjustment of senior secondary school teachers of Jodhpur division.
There was no difference between adjustment of male and female teachers and low
correlation among different aspects of organizational health and adjustment of teachers.

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 A study by Malik, D. (2005) has compared the Teaching Performance of Senior
Secondary School Teachers in relation to their Job Satisfaction and Adjustment. The
objectives of the study were to compare the level of adjustment of senior secondary school
teachers based on gender, age, training and teaching experience and also to study the
relationship between the level of performance and the level of adjustment and the
relationship between the level of job satisfaction and the level of adjustment of senior
secondary school teachers. The major findings of the study were the teachers of
Government Senior Secondary Schools of Haryana have an average level of adjustment.
There exists no significant difference between the level of adjustment with respect to
gender, age, training experience and teaching experience.

Sharma, M. L. (2007) compared the job–stress, job satisfaction and adjustment of

physical education teachers of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Union Territory, Chandigarh.
The findings of the study showed no significant difference among physical education
teachers in respect to the academic and general environment adjustment. Social – psycho –
physical adjustment of Punjab and Chandigarh physical education teachers were better than
the physical education teachers working in the colleges of Himachal Pradesh. No significant
difference was observed in professional relationship adjustment among physical education
teachers working in the colleges of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh. No
significant difference was observed in personal life adjustment among physical education
teachers working in the colleges of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh. Financial
adjustment of physical education teachers working in Punjab and Chandigarh colleges was
found better than the physical education teachers working in the colleges of Himachal
Pradesh.

This paper by Ducheva, Z. (2005) reviews Professional adjustment(PA) as a process

of becoming well acquainted with the profession and harmonization of a person`s
interaction with the professional environment, as a long and complex process that starts
when a person gets acquainted with the profession and continues throughout life. Various
dynamic modern conditions, with varied opportunities that are offered to teachers and the
likelihood of frequent transfers, activities and job positions, are a prerequisite for the
importance of professional adjustment. The three stages of professional adjustment
according to Donald include establishment, maintenance and subsidence. In the stage of
establishing a career the first task is to apply the teachers’ professional preferences and
become aware of the necessity of stabilizing his/her career. During the stage of maintenance

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one either finds stable job or resorts to less or more constant instability. And in the end one
consolidates and makes progress in his professional career.

Namdeo, R. P. (2012) studied the relationship among job preference, professional

adjustment and job satisfaction of secondary school teachers. The major findings include
that there was a significant correlation between job satisfaction and job preference of
secondary school teachers, which means that job preference and job satisfaction affected
each other. Another finding showed that there was a significant relationship between
professional adjustment and job satisfaction among secondary school teachers. This means
that professionally adjusted teachers were more satisfied with their job. Further there was no
significant correlation between professional adjustment and job preference as it was not
related to each other. The findings concluded were that job preference and job satisfaction
were related to each other and there was a strong relationship between professional
adjustment and job satisfaction, however, professional adjustment and job preference were
not related to each other.

Haider, A. (2012) investigated professional adjustment of teachers based on their

academic-qualifications. A total of 792 teachers teaching in primary school to higher
education institutions were recruited for the study. Further the teachers were classified into
five categories as per their academic qualification viz. untrained graduates and
undergraduates, trained graduates and undergraduates, untrained post graduates, trained post
graduates, trained and untrained research degree holders. To evaluate the status of
professional adjustment of teachers, a tool viz. "Manual on Teachers Professional
Adjustments" was used which was prepared and standardized by the investigator. The
reliability and validity of the tool was found to be 0.89 and 0.66 respectively. The
professional adjustment status of the teachers was classified into three levels viz. well-
adjusted, average-adjusted and low-adjusted on the basis of their percentile rank and
professional adjustment scores. The data generated were analysed by ANOVA and 2 test
through SPSS version 13.0 and Prism 3.0. The study concluded that academic quantification
is an important factor for enhancing professional adjustment of teachers. Further the
findings of the study included that the group with advanced academic qualification such as
research degree holders etc. were able to register higher status of professional adjustment.
However the lower qualification group i.e. graduates and undergraduates were definitely
lower in their overall professional adjustment when compared to the higher qualification
group. The exact precipitating factor that kept the compared groups so distinctly apart could

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not be easily guessed and therefore required further systematic research to identify such
stable differences.

Teacher behaviour is inured by his/her Psychological and sociological environments.

Some traits which are essential for good teacher are better developed in certain
environments. The present position and the status of teachers mainly results due to the lack
of moral influence, professional freedom, academic scholarship and economic security
which in turn, affects their professional adjustment. Goyat, A. (2012) conducted a study on
adjustment level among primary school teachers in Jhajjar district to know the gender,
demographical and educational impact on teachers’ adjustment behaviour. It was found that
there was no significant difference between male, female and rural, urban primary school
teachers. Adjustment of secondary school teachers was measured by Mangal Teacher
Adjustment Inventory developed by Dr. S. K. Mangal.

The study by Saini, M. K. and Joshi, A. (2013) made an effort to find whether
adjustment effects teacher effectiveness. Teacher effectiveness is regarded as the optimal
level of efficiency and productivity of a teacher. The skill of the teacher is to connect the
learning activities to the developmental process of a learner and draw their attention
towards learning. However, the teacher’s adjustment level may vary in different situations.
To explore the relationship between teacher effectiveness and adjustment level of secondary
school teachers the tools such as Teacher Effectiveness Scale (TES) by Kumar, P. and
Mutha, D. N. (1985) and Mangal Teacher Adjustment Inventory (MTAI) by Mangal, S. K.
(1982) was used respectively. The sample size for the study was 150 teachers working in
secondary school.

The data were analyzed through t-test and found to have a significant relationship
between teacher effectiveness and adjustment level of secondary school teachers. Also in
the study there was no significant difference shown in terms of teacher effectiveness and
adjustment between male and female teachers. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between
teacher effectiveness and teacher adjustment was 0.765. Therefore the study concluded that
there was a strong, positive correlation, a significant relationship between teacher
effectiveness and adjustment level of secondary school teachers.

Katzin, O. (2013) studied professional adjustment of beginning teachers from vision

to their practice. The study examined how beginning teachers change their teaching
approaches, along the continuum of a positivistic to a constructivist approach. The

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methodological approach employed was a qualitative-constructivist, following a strategy of
multiple case studies involving thirteen student teacher graduates of a four-year honours
programme on Jewish Education in public high schools. The data were collected over a six-
year period via approximately 140 open in-depth interviews and observation (video-
recording of lessons). The data were analyzed by means of thematic analysis in four
continuous stages. In the fourth stage, a grounded theory concerning the development and
transformation of teaching approaches among student teachers emerged. The findings
suggested that from the beginning of their training, most student teachers adopted teaching
as transmission approaches and their analysis proposed a three-phase model: i. Spontaneous
espousal of a teaching approach while questioning its nature; ii. Adhering to the espoused
approached while recognizing its advantage; iii. Entrenching the initial approach while
accepting its superiority. The model indicates the strength and durability of prior knowledge
possessed by those student teachers entering their training and the reduction of self-critical
reflective thought concerning the teaching approach and the methodology implemented.

The study by Kumar, S. (2014) on the effect of Students’ Feedback and Academic
Discipline of Teachers on Teacher Adjustment of Secondary School Teachers revealed that
teachers who were competent and emotionally mature made the total school atmosphere full
of learning experience for the students. On the other hand incompetent and maladjusted
teacher spoiled the school atmosphere. Adjustment of the teachers was assessed with a
standardized tool namely Mangal Teacher Adjustment Inventory and the study population
included 102 Secondary School Teachers teaching in five different schools in north India
and their students. However, this study found no significant effect of students’ feedback on
teacher adjustment. Also, Teacher Adjustment was independent of academic discipline of
teachers. This reveals that adjustment of teachers belonging to one branch to that of the
other did not differ significantly when groups were equated with respect to Pre-Teacher
Adjustment scores.

A comparative study carried by Suruchi and Rana (2014), on personal,

professional and social adjustment of government and private secondary school teachers
revealed that government secondary school teachers both male and female, were better
adjusted when compared to their counterparts working in private schools in all areas of their
personal, professional and social life. Dr. S. K. Mangal's Teachers adjustment inventory was
used on a sample size of 200 teachers from 10 schools of which five where from
government and five from private with equal gender size. It was found that a significant

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difference was seen in the personal, professional and social adjustment of studied teachers.
The study claims to be useful to understand the effect of job security, ample opportunities,
financial support and cordial work environment on the work efficiency, physical, mental
and social health of teachers.

The investigation by Shirazi, et al., 2014, studied the individual and contextual
factors conducive to teacher professional development. The aim of the study was to identify
the predictors of teacher development that consisted of an in-depth semi-structured
interview with 15 teachers for a time period of 45-60 minutes. Content analysis
methodology was adopted to decode the gathered information and the qualitative data
included learning goal orientation, teacher self-efficacy, professional commitment,
organizational climate and learning organization culture.

Analysis of the results of this study provides additional information to support

teacher professional development in the field of teacher education. This study indicated that
professional development is a complex process influenced by the simultaneous interaction
of various psychological and contextual factors.

The quality of good professionally competent teachers depends on various factors

where the degree of level of adjustment presents in the school environment. A study on
adjustment level among secondary school teachers in Kashmir by Nadeem, N. A. and Bhat,
G. A. (2014) was done to know the gender, demographical and educational impact on
teacher’s adjustment behaviour. 200 Secondary School Teachers in Government Secondary
Schools of the district of Kashmir formed the sample. Bell’s Adjustment inventory was
used to measure the adjustment level of secondary school teachers. It was found that there
was significant difference between male and female, rural and urban secondary school
teachers on health, social, emotional and total adjustments.

Singh, B. P. (2014) studied the Secondary School Teacher Adjustments in relation

to sex, place of working, marital status and academic results in Haryana. The study was
conducted among 800 teachers working in urban and rural schools of Haryana. Mangal
Teacher Adjustment Inventory was used to collect the data. The findings were that there
was a significant difference in the adjustment problems of male and female, rural and urban,
married and unmarried teachers. The level of adjustment of a teacher was directly linked
with the efficiency in their work.

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2.3 CONCLUSION

A brief resume of the research studies scanned above reveals that studies on
teaching competency, teacher self-efficacy and professional adjustment have been done on
teachers independently. Factors affecting the professional development of teachers are also
investigated by researchers. Similarly, relationships of teaching competency with teacher
self-efficacy and personality with teaching competency have been studied. But there was no
combined effort made to study the impact of these factors on professionalism of
mathematics teachers, based on their personality traits. Hence this has given way for the
research problem to be studied in the present investigation.

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